Cargill Falls

[Note: For my Waterfalls pages, I’m using the town designation used by the Connecticut Waterfalls 2013 guidebook. Because sometimes it’s fun. But not now… because Putnam is just Putnam.]

Cargill Falls is probably the thing in Putnam that most people associate with Putnam. Either the falls or the growing and cool little art community. The falls are more or less in the center of town, they are pretty, and they are the reason Putnam exists in the way that it does.

As with all post-industrial New England towns, Putnam sprang up around the river’s power. In this case, it’s the Quinebaug River. And mills have existed here for a long, long time.

In fact, it is claimed, perhaps longer than anywhere…

From the guidebook:

Cargill Falls, aka, the Great Falls of the Quinebaug River, consist of a series of small cascades and rapids on the Quinebaug River – a large river which rises west of Southbridge, MA, and flows into the Thames River at Norwich. The falls are located directly below a broad dam which, except for being intercepted by a sizeable island near the center of the river, spans the entire width of the Quienbaug. The island divides the river into two main channels, including several secondary channels that run over the island like rivulets. The river momentarily turns into one giant kaleidoscope of broken streams, rivulets, and cascades.

Wow, that’s some of the most descriptive writing in the entire book. The author seems to love these falls. You can view them from a few spots, most notably on the bridge (route 44) that spans the river.

Continuing,

Prior to 1720, Davide Howe established Cargill Falls’ first industry. In 1730 a Scotsman named Captain Benjamin Cargill purchased Howe’s property and built a new mill. His gristmill was able to grind out 500 bushels of corn daily using three large millstones which Cargill had installed.

The Courant’s Peter Marteka wrote, “Once known as the Pomfret Manufacturing Company and Pomfret Cotton Mills, it began producing cotton textile products in 1807. It is believed to be the earliest cotton textile mill built in the nation.”